Ever since US3 turned jazz into pop currency, we've
been a little wary of anything billed as a jazz bar. Earnest
young men with knitted wool hats, scratching their goatees
and musing about Miles Davis' impact on post-modernist
art could seriously put you off your beer. But Mahna Mahna
in Sangenjaya is a lot more than it's cracked up to be.

We arrived there a bit bemused to be so far off the beaten
track but ready for a change of scenery anyway and made our
way upstairs to the spacious, well-upholstered balcony area.
We settled into the comfy sofas as the resident DJ cheered
up the Jazz skeptics among us with a funky '70s set.
It turned out that Mahna Mahna was more eclectic than we thought,
with a mixed crowd of Shimokitazawa drop outs getting into
tunes covering the last 20 years of soul, pop and funk.

We set about the drinks menu with a purpose, ordering loaded
Long Island Ice Teas (¥900) and hot wine (¥600) to
keep out this desperate cold. The drinks list was fairly standard
with only a couple of notable exceptions such as Shandy Gaff
(¥700) and Cassis beer (¥700), neither of which really
sounded that appealing, but we had to admire the nod to adventurism.
Having decided that food might be a good idea to balance what
sadly seemed to be a mainly liquid diet, we weighed into the
extensive snack menu ordering olives (¥400), Okinawa specialty
taco rice (¥800) and their delicious homemade lean pork
chashu (¥600). Everything went down a treat, and we realized
that leaving Shibuya may not be such a bad idea after all.

The space and vibe is perfect for small parties or live bands,
and the friendly staff seemed keen to promote Mahna Mahna
as a venue for any kind of low key event with punters only
having to pay the ¥300 per head cover charge. This month's
schedule for example includes a hip-hop event called Nymphoseek,
a Jazz Brazil night from DJ QT-4 and something
called Banzanispa with DJ Diasuke. None of us
had any idea what any of this meant of course, but at Mahna
Mahna it'll probably be fun anyway. Stephen Cotterill